Container with wrapper with detachable tab

ABSTRACT

A container of consumer goods comprises a housing ( 10   a ) and one or more consumer goods ( 18 ) wrapped in a wrapper ( 20 ) and contained within the housing ( 10   a ), the wrapper ( 20 ) comprising a plurality of intersecting lines of weakness ( 22 ) that together define a plurality of interconnected detachable portions ( 24 ) of the wrapper ( 20 ).

This application is a U.S. National Stage Application of International Application No. PCT/EP2015/069774, filed Aug. 28, 2015, which was published in English on Mar. 3, 2016 as International Publication No. WO 2016/030518 A1. International Application No. PCT/EP2015/069774 claims priority to European Application No. 14182950.7 filed Aug. 29, 2014.

The present invention relates to a container of consumer goods containing one or more consumer goods wrapped in a wrapper. The invention finds particular application as a pack smoking articles such as cigarettes.

Smoking articles such as cigarettes and cigars are commonly packaged in rigid hinge-lid containers having a box and a lid connected to the box about a hinge line extending across the back wall of the container. Such hinge-lid containers are typically constructed from one-piece laminar cardboard blanks. In use, the lid is pivoted about the hinge line to open the container and so gain access to a bundle of smoking articles housed in the box.

The bundle of smoking articles housed in the box is typically wrapped in an inner liner of metallised paper, metal foil or other flexible sheet material. The inner liner is typically a rectangular sheet of material folded around the bundle of smoking articles and then folded closed at the top and bottom ends, for example, using an envelope fold. The inner liner of some known containers of smoking articles and other consumer goods can be used to carry information to the consumer. For example, it is known to emboss or print some inner liners with brand information.

To access the bundle of smoking articles within the inner liner, upon first opening the hinge-lid container a consumer can simply unfold a top portion of the inner liner to expose the smoking articles. Alternatively, some inner liners are provided with a detachable upper portion, which a consumer can remove and discard to access the smoking articles. However, the detachable portion of such inner liners typically is relatively small in size, with a relatively plain shape and appearance. Consequently, these detachable tab portions currently have little use beyond their basic function of allowing a consumer access to the contents of the container.

It would be desirable to provide a novel wrapper arrangement for a wrapped bundle of consumer goods such as smoking articles, wherein the wrapper is adapted to provide improved means for communicating with the consumer.

According to the invention, there is provided a container of consumer goods comprising a housing and one or more consumer goods wrapped in a wrapper and contained within the housing, the wrapper comprising a plurality of intersecting lines of weakness that together define a plurality of interconnected detachable portions of the wrapper.

As used herein, the term “detachable portion” refers to a portion of the wrapper that can be detached from the remainder of the wrapper and removed from the container to expose or further expose portions of the one or more consumer goods contained within the housing.

The lines of weakness allow the user of the container to remove as much or as little of the wrapper as they wish, to expose different amounts of the consumer goods in the container. The lines of weakness also allow the user to remove a portion of the wrapper of a desired shape, so that the removed portion or the remaining portion or both have a pleasing appearance or so to provide access to the goods in the container over a desired area of the wrapper.

The user of the container can remove one or more portions of the wrapper by parting the wrapper along the lines of weakness, for example by tearing or cutting. By selecting the lines of weakness appropriately, the user can determine the size and shape of the removed portion.

Preferably, the plurality of intersecting lines include a first line of weakness and a second line of weakness, wherein the first line of weakness has a tear strength that is less than the tear strength of the second line of weakness. This can promote preferential removal of certain detachable tab portions over others. For example, a consumer could pull on the wrapper such that first line of weakness is the first line of weakeness that tears in the wrapper, thus enabling a consumer to only remove a first tab portion initially, and leave behind one or more further tab portions for later removal. A consumer therefore has the ability to only expose and access those consumer goods that they wish to access initially, whilst leaving the remainder of the consumer goods wrapped in the wrapper for later use. This may enable the remainder of the consumer goods wrapped in the wrapper to stay fresher for longer.

Preferably, the plurality of interconnected detachable portions of the wrapper comprise a first detachable tab portion that is configured to expose no more than three consumer goods on a front wall of the housing when the first detachable tab portion is detached from the wrapper, even more preferably the first detachable tab portion is configured to expose no more than one consumer good on the front wall of the housing when the first detachable tab portion is detached from the wrapper. This can allow the other consumer goods in the housing to remain wrapped until a consumer is read to access them.

The intersecting lines of weakness are provided least over the portion of the wrapper that is exposed when the container open. In some cases, the lines of weakness extend over the entire wrapper.

In some embodiments, the housing comprises a box portion and a lid portion extending from the box portion along a hinge line across a back wall of the housing, wherein the lid portion is moveable between an open position and a closed position in which a front wall of the lid portion and a front wall of the box portion together define a front wall of the housing opposite the back wall of the housing.

In some embodiments, the plurality of intersecting lines of weakness comprises a first plurality of spaced apart substantially parallel lines of weakness each extending in a first direction and a second plurality of spaced apart substantially parallel lines of weakness each extending in a second direction. In such embodiments, the smallest angle between the first direction and the second direction is preferably between 45 degrees and 90 degrees.

In some embodiments of the invention, the housing further comprises a housing top wall extending between the back wall and the lid front wall and a housing bottom wall opposite the top wall and extending between the back wall and the box front wall, wherein a longitudinal direction extends between the housing top wall and the housing bottom wall, wherein the plurality of intersecting lines of weakness underlie the housing front wall and wherein at least one of the first and second directions extends at a non-orthogonal angle with respect to the longitudinal direction.

In some embodiments the box portion comprises a box front wall having a top edge that defines an edge of an opening through which consumer goods can be removed from the container when the lid is in the open position, and wherein the distance between the top edge of the box front wall and a line of weakness defining a detachable tab portion of the wrapper is at least 10 millimetres.

Preferably, one or more of the detachable tab portions of the wrapper include one or more indicia on a surface thereof. For example, in some preferred embodiments, a first indicia is provided on a first detachable tab portion, and a second indicia is provided on a second detachable tab portion, the first indicia being different from the second indicia. In this way, the different indicia could be used to communicate a message to a consumer. For example, they could indicate how a consumer should remove the detachable tab portions, such as an order for removing the detachable tab portions.

The lines of weakness may be, for example, perforations or scorelines in the wrapper. Preferably, each line of weakness comprises a perforation line. Perforation lines can be applied to the wrapper using well known apparatus and techniques. The type of perforation may be varied in a number of ways to adjust the appearance of the line of weakness, or the force required to break the wrapper along the line of weakness. The shape, size and separation of the cuts forming the perforation line may also be varied, if desired.

The wrapper may be of any suitable flexible laminar material including but not limited to metal foil, a laminate of metal foil and paper, metallised paper, metallised polymer film, polymer film and paper. The detachable tab portion may carry information, decoration or other indicia including but not limited to manufacturer or brand logos, trade marks, slogans and other consumer information, pictures and decorative patterns. The indicia may be applied by printing, embossing, impression or otherwise.

The container may be of any suitable material, including but not limited to card, cardboard, paperboard, plastic, metal and combinations thereof.

The one or more consumer goods may be a plurality of cigarettes or other smoking articles.

In the present specification, the terms ‘front’, ‘rear’, ‘side’, ‘ top’, ‘bottom’, ‘upper’, ‘lower’, ‘above’ and ‘behind’ refer to a container in its conventional upright position; in the case of a pack of cigarettes, the cigarettes in the pack are typically upright in this position.

The container may be a hinge lid pack for cigarettes or other smoking articles. Hinge lid cigarette packs are well known. A hinge lid pack comprises a pack body having opposed front and rear walls connected to each other by opposed side walls to form a pack of, typically, rectangular or generally rectangular section. A lid, also having opposed front and rear walls connected to each other by opposed side walls extends from and is hingedly connected to the rear wall of the pack body, and an inner frame disposed inside the pack body. The inner frame lies behind the front wall of the pack body and extends above the top edge of the front wall; the lid closes onto the inner frame, the lower front edge of the lid meeting the upper front edge of the pack body.

A hinge lid pack is typically formed from a card blank folded around a bundle of smoking articles wrapped in a wrapper, or inner liner, of a laminar material such as metal foil or a laminate of metal foil and paper. The wrapper is folded around the rear, bottom and front of a bundle of smoking articles, around the sides of the bundle and is closed at the top of the bundle by an envelope fold. The bundle of cigarettes or other smoking articles typically contains ten or twenty smoking articles. The smoking articles may be arranged in different collations, depending on the total number of smoking articles. For example, the smoking articles may be arranged in a single row of five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten. Alternatively, the smoking articles may be arranged in two or more rows. Smoking articles in one row may lie partially between smoking articles in an adjacent row. The two or more rows may contain the same number of smoking articles. For example, the smoking articles may be collated in: two rows of five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten; three rows of five or seven; or four rows of four, five or six. Alternatively, the two or more rows may include at least two rows containing different number of smoking articles to each other. For example, the smoking articles may be arranged in a row of five and a row of six (5-6); a row of six and a row of seven (6-7); a row of seven and a row of eight (7-8); a middle row of five and two outer rows of six (6-5-6); a middle row of five and two outer rows of seven (7-5-7); a middle row of six and two outer rows of five (5-6-5); a middle row of six and two outer rows of seven (7-6-7); a middle row of seven and two outer rows of six (6-7-6); a middle row of nine and two outer rows of eight (8-9-8); or a middle row of six with one outer row of five and one outer row of seven (5-6-7). Typically, the outer rows of a bundle are adjacent the front and rear walls, respectively, of the container.

Containers of smoking articles according to the present invention may hold smoking articles of the same type or brand, or of different types or brands. The smoking articles in the container may be filterless smoking articles or smoking articles with a filter tip or both. The smoking articles may all be of the same different lengths (for example, between about 40 mm and about 180 mm) and of the same or different diameter (for example, between about 4 mm and about 9 mm). In addition, the smoking articles may differ in strength of taste, resistance to draw and total particulate matter delivery. Preferably, the dimensions of the wrapped bundles and the containers are adapted to the length and diameter of the smoking articles, and the collation of the smoking articles. Typically, the outer dimensions of the container are between about 0.5 mm to about 5 mm larger than the dimensions of the wrapped bundle or bundles of smoking articles housed inside the container.

Preferably, containers according to the invention can have a height of between about 60 mm (millimetres) and about 150 mm, more preferably a height of between about 70 mm and about 125 mm, the height being measured from the bottom wall to the top wall of the container. In some embodiments, containers according to the invention have a width of between about 12 mm and about 150 mm, more preferably a width of between about 70 mm and about 125 mm, wherein the width is measured from one side wall to the other side wall of the container.

Preferably, containers according to the invention have a depth of between about 6 mm and about 150 mm, more preferably a depth of between about 12 mm and about 25 mm wherein the depth is measured from the front wall to the back wall of the container (comprising the hinge between box and lid).

Preferably, the ratio of the height of the container to the depth of the container is between about 0.3:1 and about 10:1, more preferably between about 2:1 and about 8:1, most preferably between about 3:1 and 5:1

Preferably, the ratio of the width of the container to the depth of the container is between about 0.3:1 and about 10:1, more preferably between about 2:1 and about 8:1, most preferably between about 2:1 and 3:1.

Preferably, the ratio of the height of the lid back wall to the height of the box back wall is between about 0 (the lid is hinged at the top edge of the container) and about 1:1, more preferably, between about 1:5 and about 1:10, most preferably, between about 1:6 to about 1:8.

Preferably, the ratio of the height of the lid front wall to the height of the box front wall is between about 0 (the lid provides the entire front face of the container) to about 1:10, more preferably, between about 1:1 and about 1:5, most preferably, between about 1:2 and about 1:3.

Where the wrapped bundle houses smoking articles, the container may further comprise waste-compartments (for example for ash or butts) or other consumer goods, for example matches, lighters, extinguishing means, breath-fresheners or electronics. The other consumer goods may be attached to the outside of the container, contained within the container along with the package of smoking articles, in a separate compartment of the container or combinations thereof.

The exterior surfaces of containers according to the invention may be printed, embossed, impressed or otherwise embellished with manufacturer or brand logos, trade marks, slogans and other consumer information and indicia.

Once filled, containers according to the invention may be shrink wrapped or otherwise overwrapped with a transparent polymeric film of, for example, high or low density polyethylene, polypropylene, oriented polypropylene, polyvinylidene chloride, cellulose film, or combinations thereof in a conventional manner. Where containers according to the invention are overwrapped, the overwrap may include one or more tear tapes. In addition, the overwrap may be printed with images, consumer information or other data.

The invention will be further described by way of example with reference to the following drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1a, 1b and 1c show a pack according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the invention.

FIGS. 1a, 1b and 1c show an embodiment of the invention in the form of a hinge lid cigarette pack 10 a, 10 b, 10 c, comprising a pack body 12 to which a lid 14 is hinged along the back (as viewed in the drawings) wall and an inner frame 16 disposed inside the pack body 12. A bundle of cigarettes 18 wrapped in an inner liner 20 is inside the pack.

The inner liner 20 of a container according to this embodiment of the invention has a pattern of intersecting lines of perforation or other weakness 22 at least over the portion of the inner liner that is exposed when the pack lid 14 is open; it will normally be convenient for the lines of perforation to extend over the entire inner liner 20. In this embodiment, the lines of perforation 22 are in a rectangular grid, 10 mm apart. It will be appreciated that other patterns of intersecting lines may be employed. The lines of perforations or other lines of weakness define detachable portions 24 of the wrapper. The lines of perforations or other lines of weakness allow the user of the pack to remove a part 26 of the inner liner 20 of a shape and size determined by the user. The part 26 of the inner liner that is removed will consist of one or more of the detachable portions 24.

When the pack 10 is first opened, after the outer overwrap, not shown, has been removed, a portion of the inner liner 20 can be removed by tearing along lines of perforation 22 defining a part 26 of the inner liner to be removed, consisting of one or more of the detachable portions 24. By selecting the lines of perforations appropriately, the user can determine the size and shape of the removed part 26 of the inner liner. If only a relatively small portion of the exposed inner liner is removed, for example a portion toward one side only of the exposed inner liner, more of the inner liner can be removed later by tearing along other, previously untorn, lines of perforation.

FIG. 1a shows a pack 10 a in which the envelope fold at the top of the inner liner 20 has been pulled open and the inner liner 20 torn along lines of perforation 22 to leave a saw tooth upper edge 28 to the inner liner remaining in the pack. One edge of the removed part 26 a of the inner liner has a corresponding saw tooth edge.

FIG. 1b shows a pack 10 b in which the envelope fold at the top of the inner liner 20 has been pulled open and torn to detach a part 26 b of the inner liner from the exposed portion of the inner liner along a line of perforations 22 extending from one side of the pack to the other at an angle of about 45° to leave an upper edge 28 b to the inner liner remaining in the pack in the form of a skewed inverted V.

FIG. 2c shows a pack 10 b in which the envelope fold at the top of the inner liner 20 has been pulled open and torn from either side to detach a part 26 c from the exposed portion of the inner liner along lines of perforations 22 extending downward from each side at an angle of about 45° to leave an upper edge 28 c to the inner liner remaining in the pack in the form V.

By appropriate choice of lines of perforation to tear, the user can readily determine the shape and size of the portion 24 of the inner liner 20 that is detached, and so the shape of the inner liner, and in particular of the upper edge 28 a, 28 b, 28 c of the inner liner, that remains in the pack. 

1. A container of consumer goods comprising: a housing; and one or more consumer goods wrapped in a wrapper and contained within the housing, the wrapper comprising a plurality of intersecting lines of weakness that together define a plurality of interconnected detachable portions of the wrapper.
 2. A container according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of intersecting lines include a first line of weakness and a second line of weakness, and wherein the first line of weakness has a tear strength that is less than the tear strength of the second line of weakness.
 3. A container according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of interconnected detachable portions of the wrapper comprise a first detachable tab portion that is configured to expose no more than three consumer goods on a front wall of the housing when the first detachable tab portion is detached from the wrapper.
 4. A container according to claim 3, wherein the first detachable tab portion is configured to expose no more than one consumer good on the front wall of the housing when the first detachable tab portion is detached from the wrapper.
 5. A container according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of intersecting lines of weakness comprises a first plurality of spaced apart substantially parallel lines of weakness each extending in a first direction and a second plurality of spaced apart substantially parallel lines of weakness each extending in a second direction.
 6. A container according to claim 5 wherein the smallest angle between the first direction and the second direction is between 45 degrees and 90 degrees.
 7. A container according to claim 1 wherein the housing further comprises: a housing top wall extending between the back wall and the lid front wall; and a housing bottom wall opposite the top wall and extending between the back wall and the box front wall, wherein a longitudinal direction extends between the housing top wall and the housing bottom wall; wherein the plurality of intersecting lines of weakness underlie the housing front wall and wherein at least one of the first and second directions extends at a non-orthogonal angle with respect to the longitudinal direction.
 8. A container according to claim 7, wherein the box portion comprises a box front wall having a top edge that defines an edge of an opening through which consumer goods can be removed from the container when the lid is in the open position, and wherein the distance between the top edge of the box front wall and a line of weakness defining a detachable tab portion of the wrapper is at least 10 millimetres.
 9. A container according to claim 1 wherein one or more of the detachable tab portions of the wrapper include one or more indicia on a surface thereof.
 10. A container according to claim 9, wherein a first indicia is provided on a first detachable tab portion, and a second indicia is provided on a second detachable tab portion, the first indicia being different from the second indicia.
 11. A container according to claim 1 wherein the housing comprises a box portion and a lid portion extending from the box portion along a hinge line across a back wall of the housing, wherein the lid portion is moveable between an open position and a closed position in which a front wall of the lid portion and a front wall of the box portion together define a front wall of the housing opposite the back wall of the housing.
 12. A container according to claim 1 wherein the one or more consumer goods is a plurality of smoking articles.
 13. A container according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of interconnected detachable portions of the wrapper comprise a first detachable tab portion that is configured to expose no more than three consumer goods on a front wall of the housing when the first detachable tab portion is detached from the wrapper.
 14. A container according to claim 13, wherein the first detachable tab portion is configured to expose no more than one consumer good on the front wall of the housing when the first detachable tab portion is detached from the wrapper.
 15. A container according to claim 14 wherein the plurality of intersecting lines of weakness comprises a first plurality of spaced apart substantially parallel lines of weakness each extending in a first direction and a second plurality of spaced apart substantially parallel lines of weakness each extending in a second direction.
 16. A container according to claim 3 wherein the plurality of intersecting lines of weakness comprises a first plurality of spaced apart substantially parallel lines of weakness each extending in a first direction and a second plurality of spaced apart substantially parallel lines of weakness each extending in a second direction.
 17. A container according to claim 2 wherein the housing further comprises: a housing top wall extending between the back wall and the lid front wall; and a housing bottom wall opposite the top wall and extending between the back wall and the box front wall, wherein a longitudinal direction extends between the housing top wall and the housing bottom wall; wherein the plurality of intersecting lines of weakness underlie the housing front wall and wherein at least one of the first and second directions extends at a non-orthogonal angle with respect to the longitudinal direction.
 18. A container according to claim 17, wherein the box portion comprises a box front wall having a top edge that defines an edge of an opening through which consumer goods can be removed from the container when the lid is in the open position, and wherein the distance between the top edge of the box front wall and a line of weakness defining a detachable tab portion of the wrapper is at least 10 millimetres.
 19. A container according to claim 2 wherein one or more of the detachable tab portions of the wrapper include one or more indicia on a surface thereof.
 20. A container according to claim 19, wherein a first indicia is provided on a first detachable tab portion, and a second indicia is provided on a second detachable tab portion, the first indicia being different from the second indicia. 